The present invention relates to a mobile information exchange system and, more particularly, to a location-aware system for mobile connectivity and information exchange.
The ubiquitous use of mobile technology, specifically handheld cellular devices, has given rise to a number of location based applications available to cellphone users. Foremost among such applications are GPS based tracking applications which allow users to pinpoint the current location of the mobile/GPS-enabled device for the purposes of navigation or gaining information about the local surroundings. GPS-like systems have given powerful handheld devices location based abilities. Furthermore, wireless data exchange systems such as BlueTooth™, RFID and NFC (Near Field Communication), allow mobile devices to be aware of compatible devices within the immediate vicinity.
One of the potential goals of modern technology is the collaboration between mobile devices/smart-phones and social networks (e.g. FaceBook™, Twitter™, MySpace™, LinkenIn™ etc.) in order to create a market for providing users with a secure way to expose and share their social network accounts/personal details with other users who are in the same geographical area (e.g. office, club, classroom, coffee shop or simply on the street) using smart-phones/devices.
Various attempts have been made to facilitate data exchanges between co-located individuals via communication devices. U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No. US 2010/0070758 to Low et al. (hereinafter “Low”) discloses a system for analyzing tokens which have been exchanged by co-located devices, and creating Groups as a result of the analysis. The system disclosed by Low facilitates the automatic grouping of individuals that attended an event in the same location at the same time. The system, however, does not facilitate the exchange of data between user accounts stored on the server, only between the devices themselves (e.g. SMS messages, calendar sharing, telephonic communication etc.), which significantly limits the size of the data that is transferable. A further drawback stems from the fact that the devices generate the tokens locally using a cipher. It would be of better design and much more efficient to perform the task of token generation on a central server that has greater control and perspective over what is occurring in the system at any given moment. For example:
1. In case someone manages to hack the token encryption mechanism of a certain client it is the client's responsibility to detect the hack and switch encryption key. On the other hand, if the token had been generated by the server then it would be a much easier task for the server to identify the hack—e.g. if the server receives tokens from the same user but from two different parts of the city, then it very likely that the encryption key has been hacked.
2. A computer worm loaded onto a target device can generate valid tokens of the worm's creator (a malicious user also in the system) and can now generate valid tokens of the malicious user in place of the tokens of the target device. This would make the targeted user visible to others as the malicious user or potentially a third user from whom the malicious user has stolen a cipher.
It would be highly advantageous to have a location-aware system that securely facilitates exchange of remote information regarding local entities. It would furthermore be advantageous to have a Unique Identifier (UID) which is generated by a remote server and downloaded to the device, whereby the UID can be periodically changed or otherwise protected from malicious attacks.
Definitions
The mobile device can be a cellular or satellite phone enabled with either GPS capabilities or similar satellite-based positioning capabilities that can pin-point the X and. Y coordinates or X, Y and Z coordinates of the device. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, using the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or Beidou system, are used in many applications. For simplicity sake, the term GPS will be used in this document but it is to be understood that this is only an exemplary reference. The GPS device may either be integrated into the mobile handset or an external device coupled (wired or wireless) to the handset.
‘Mobile device’, ‘smart phone’, ‘cell-phone’, ‘cellular device’ and similar terms are used interchangeably here, generally referring to a mobile handset with at least celluar telephonic communications capabilities, computing capabilities, and wireless local/short-range data communication capabilities (e.g. Bluetooth™, RFID, NFC etc.). GPS-like capabilities are preferred in some embodiments. The current invention pertains equally to mobile computing platforms having the same capabilities, even those not generally used for telephonic communications or even lacking such features.
The two types of wireless technologies readily available on most mobile devices can generally be divided into Local Area Wireless Communication 116 (LAWC) technology and Wide Area Wireless Communication 118 (WAWC) technology (elements of the aforementioned names are borrowed from the computer technology terminology Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks, although no inferences should be made between the two technologies). The term ‘communication’ with reference to LAWC and WAWC can be two-way communication or only one-way communication. The communication medium may be sound waves, electromagnetic energy such as radio waves, light waves and the like. An example of the LAWC technology is Bluetooth™ (BT), but it is understood that the use of Bluetooth technology herein is merely exemplary and that other communication technologies such as, but not limited to, RFID, NFC , IrDA, UWB and others may be employed in place of Bluetooth. Examples of WAWC include cellular communication, WIFI and satellite communication. In some instances the distinction between LAWC and WAWC may not be so clear, but in general the given definitions will suffice to distinguish between technology types employed within the scope of the invention.
The LAWC enabled device passes information “on contact” with other people or entities automatically, semi-automatically and/or manually. The terms “contact”, “vicinity” and “proximity”, as used herein, refer to physically close proximity between two parties, which can be defined as a range of distance between the two entities (potentially calculated using GPS triangulation, cellular coordinate recognition, etc.) or the ability to initiate direct Bluetooth discovery or other technology that detects a direct location link between two people (e.g. using RFID reader or NFC communication). Proximity is defined as the upper range of data communication capabilities for short-range communication technology. The number of exemplary short-range technologies and their transmission/communication ranges follow. Bluetooth technology transmits up to approximately 30 meters or 100 feet. RFID technology has a number of different ranges, depending on various factors. Typically, the read range is approximately between 3 and 300 feet (1-100 meters). RFID readers can read tags in smart cards from about 3 feet; tags on pallets and cases of goods can be read from approximately 20-30 feet and battery-powered tags (e.g. tags used in toll collection) up to approximately 300 feet. NFC technology can typically transmit data over a distance/range of between 4 cm and 1.2 m.
A ‘Secured Mobile Communication Cloud’ is an ad-hoc cloud-like network between mobile/static communication devices, where the data transactions are secured at least by one or more of the security measures detailed elsewhere herein.
The server and encompassed units and features of the present invention can be embodied in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. The mobile application and features of the present invention can be embodied in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof.